If You Loved Me
by The Muses
Summary: In Hermiones seventh year, something odd happens to Snape... And Hermione, being Head Girl, must help with the problem, while the Head Boy is causing more problems...
1. Chapter 1

If You Loved Me  
  
~*~ By Mae Noelle ~*~  
  
Disclaimer: See what's mine? Can ya? Huh? Well, neither can I. Except maybe a hundredth of the plot - but you never know. Everyone always ends up copying some one else some time or another.  
  
Summery: Ok, this is another one of those cliché stories, where Snape become a little Snape again. I am sorry if this is too cliché for you, but I love these stories, and I can never get enough of them. Even if they are almost completely the same as the next cliché one, I love them all. Takes place in seventh year, and that is all I will tell ya for now. I think it will have humor in it, as well as angst, but I think this will be mostly romance. (I didn't know what to put down under the story thing, but I can change it later if you all tell me it should be one way or another)  
  
P.S. - this story is made because of Ducky, my official muse. She writes tons of Sev/Herm ficcies herself, so go to: The Duck for more great mushy love stories. Now, on with the story.  
  
~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~  
  
Bright light cascaded down through the gaps of the ominous clouds, which were graying fast, and lit the streets where Hermione walked through down- town London. She had already gotten her supplies, and was making her way to the train station that was now a few blocks away.  
  
Hermione sighed heavily, shifting the parcels she was carrying, so that she could drag behind her suitcase more easily.  
  
A man that was passing her eyed her slightly, then asked her if she needed help with her things. She politely declined. Men everywhere eyed her now - along with the entire population of women. It felt funny, and she wished that she could just cover herself up to hide from all those perverted gazes.  
  
And besides, the bags she carried where enchanted ones - light as air. The only reason why she gripped them so tightly was because the fear she had that they would float away.  
  
A small car pulled up a block ahead of her, and a shorter-then-average man popped out, and pulled a few things out of the car. His sloppy hair fell across his face, and revealed an odd scar that split his forehead.  
  
Hermione broke into a smile. At last, she thought. A familiar face! She tightened her grip on her boxes and quickened her pace, running up to Harry.  
  
He turned around in time to keep himself from being knocked over as she barreled into him.  
  
"Hermione! How was summer? Did you have fun in Spain?" Harry grinned as Hermione plopped her boxes on top of Harry's.  
  
"Yes, Spain was beautiful - especially the second time, but it couldn't compare to Hogwarts! The trees in Spain were all starting to turn colors, beautiful reds and yellows. and there was almost no wind the whole time, and the weather was perfect, but, all I can think about is coming back - It's hard to believe that this is our last year." Hermione pulled him into a big hug, and then set off to find bag carriers.  
  
"The apartment the Dursleys are paying for is too small - but, it is better then spending the entire time at their house. You wouldn't believe it - it was the best summer of my life. Sorry you couldn't come over to Ron's with us," Harry suddenly turned his gaze away. "Ron said he missed you,"  
  
Hermione shivered. She had chosen not to go to Ron's, and stayed in Spain for an extra week or so so that she didn't have to feel so guilty about telling Ron's family that she couldn't go.  
  
She couldn't stand the way Ron looked at her sometimes, after the fifth year. And during the fifth year. And she always felt like Ron's mother expected her and Ron would get together, and Harry and Ginny.  
  
Hermione couldn't stand people that tried to change you, or rule your life.  
  
Without noticing it, she had passed the platform she needed to get on.  
  
"Hermione," Harry waved to her, causing a few people to stare at him. She smiled. He was always so nice.  
  
Together they went through the wall, talking and pretending to lean on it, so they didn't attract too much attention when they disappeared through the barrier between the rest of the station and platform 9 ¾.  
  
"Shall we take the last one?" Harry pointed to the caboose of the scarlet red train in front of them. "And wait for Ron there,"  
  
Hermione nodded and moved toward the train, preparing to throw her stuff into the luggage compartment. She jumped up the train's stairs and sat down in her compartment.  
  
Looking around carefully, she rummaged around in her purse and brought up a small package wrapped in tissues. She slowly unwrapped it, picked up the badge that was inside, and shined it clean of all the things stuck to it. She slipped her robe over her small t-shirt and jeans, and pinned her new head girl badge to it.  
  
Harry came in, accompanied by Ron.  
  
"Hello!" Ron said loudly, looking around the compartment for a second, while setting down his owls' cage. Out of the corner of his eye he examined Hermione, and his eyes caught on her breast area.  
  
Hermione reminded herself to find a better spot for her badge.  
  
"Why, was that there before?" Harry said, pulling at her badge to get a closer look. "I always knew that you would be head girl, but, I just never thought about it happening,"  
  
He looked up from Hermione's pin and smiled.  
  
She squirmed in her seat, hoping no one would notice.  
  
Suddenly, the compartment door slammed open and in walked Padma, Parvati, Lavender, and some other girl.  
  
"Oh, see, I told you the last one would be taken," Parvati whined.  
  
"Well, we just passed an empty one, so, that should work." The mystery girl looked around the compartment. "Hello," she said, to Hermione mostly.  
  
Ron stared. He always had a problem around girls, especially pretty ones. Lavender flipped her hair and batted her eyelashes.  
  
"Hello, Harry, Ron, and Hermione." Her eyes caught on the shiny pin that was attached to Hermione. "Well, made head girl, did ya? I bet no one will be surprised at that, huh?" She smiled a fake-y smile and turned on her heal from the room and walked out the door.  
  
Parvati smiled. "Well, see you at school!" And waved, walking backwards out the door, her sister and friend followed her.  
  
Hermione raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Wow," Ron said, finally letting out his breath. "I would like to-" He looked towards Hermione and flushed slightly. "Never mind,"  
  
"Well anyway, Hermione, I told Ron about it this summer, but, Sirius, he got a house out in the American west - or something like that - and Lisa, his wife, had her kid three months ago."  
  
Hermione brightened. She loved kids - and to know that there was this cute kid, halfway across the earth, a little baby.  
  
"Awwwwww," She couldn't help herself. She could feel her eyes shinning as she turned towards Harry. "Really? Oh, was it a boy, or a girl? What did they name her?"  
  
"Well, they named him Joshua, but that's not the point. He says that his kid is already enrolled into the Magical school over there, and you won't believe how huge it is! Like, over five-thousand students! And there are like a hundred, at least, more in the province he is in!" Harry was stretching his hands across to indicate the bigness of what he was talking about.  
  
"State," Hermione corrected, once again reading through one of her new school books. "The U.S.A. has states. What is the school called, do you know?"  
  
Harry shook his head. "I have absolutely no clue as to where he is living. I don't know what I would do with that information, anyway,"  
  
"Well, I could name all the school names if you knew the state he was living in, if you had heard it before, so that you could see if any of them sound familiar,"  
  
Ron shook his head. "How do you know about all this stuff? I don't even remember studying about the U.S. at all before we came to Hogwarts, let alone the states or whatever and the town names and all the school names,"  
  
"Well, I looked into it a bit more; I was really interested in that subject." Hermione looked up from her book to see Ron and Harry shaking their heads. "I didn't memorize it all; I just have it down in one of my books."  
  
Harry took out his chess set and a board, and beckoned Ron to join him.  
  
The journey was peaceful enough, and after a while Hermione actually became bored with reading and re-reading all her books.  
  
Her mind journeyed to what awaited her. There was the school feast, of course, the sorting, and then the journey up to the dormitories, but wait - she wouldn't be staying there!  
  
She brought out her letter from Hogwarts School, and looked over it for the hundredth time. She was to find Professor McGonagall, and she and the head boy were supposed to be taken to be shown their accommodations and then have a look over of the special rules that the Head boy and girl must uphold, and such like that.  
  
Would she make it back to the feast, though? Hermione bit her tongue. She remembered seeing other head people at their tables, but she never really paid attention good enough. what if she did it all wrong? She might go to McGonagall and end up having to be escorted back to the feast, in the middle of everything, or vise versa. She re-read her letter.  
  
Before long, it was time to get off the train, and get into the carriages and be taken back to the school. She jumped out of the compartment and made her way through the crowds of people. She almost fell over as a tug came at her arm. Trying to keep her purse from falling and breaking everything, she turned around, fighting against the massive crowds, and saw Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Oh! Hello, Professor!" Hermione grabbed the professors arm to keep from loosing her and McGonagall began to lead her away.  
  
"Miss Granger, I will be taking you to the castle personally, and we will begin the things we need to go over as soon as we get there." The professor struggled against the crowds that pushed towards the carriages.  
  
"Um, professor, won't we need to go that way to get to the castle?" Hermione jerked her thumb over her back as the teacher still pushed on.  
  
"Yes, well, we will need to find Mister Malfoy first,"  
  
Hermione lost her footing, almost being slammed into a fifth year Hufflepuff. She cried sorry over her back, but he didn't notice.  
  
"Why would we need Malfoy for this?" Hermione cried inside her mind, knowing the answer, having told herself the opposite the whole summer.  
  
"Why, because he is Head Boy, of course!" The Professor suddenly leapt forward and grabbed some other poor persons arm. Hermione refused to look over to the person. Through the confusion, she probably wouldn't have been able to see the other person anyway.  
  
McGonagall ran up to a Carriage and opened the door to it. "Hop inside, you two," She waved her arms about and Hermione grabbed at the door handle furiously, mad that all her important things had to be ruined by Malfoy. She said on the far side of the carriage. Malfoy got in and sat on the opposite side at the other end.  
  
"Well, you two, there is much to do before the feast, and hopefully you won't be too late," She shut the door behind her and sat down next to Hermione. "Normally we prepare this moment a bit differently. I hope you don't mind."  
  
Hermione shook her head.  
  
The rest of the ride was in silence, with furtive glares shot across the inside of the carriage.  
  
McGonagall seemed oblivious to this.  
  
Finally the carriage came to a halt, throwing everything inside was jolted around a bit, so much that Hermione had to involuntarily touch Malfoy.  
  
They traveled quickly up to the castle, pushing through the many students past first year, and got to the steps.  
  
"Professor, don't you have to go and tend to the first years?" Hermione struggled to get up steps, having wasted most of her energy already.  
  
The professor turned her head back to Hermione and smiled. "The job was given to some one else this year, my dear. I wanted to take care of this." And, with one last glazed look at Hermione, she turned and pulled open the great towering doors.  
  
The three of them walked past the Great Hall, where all the other students were emptying into, and made their way up a tall case of stairs. And more stairs, and then more.  
  
And once McGonagall finally stopped, they were in a corridor that Hermione never had really paid to much attention to.  
  
She walked to a door that Hermione had never been inside of, and beckoned for Hermione and Malfoy to come with her.  
  
"Now, this door leads to an adjoining study room, where you can be in silence away from the rest of your house. There will be two doors on the opposite walls, which lead to your separate rooms. From your rooms, there will be three doors, one for your bathroom, one for a closet, and another that leads to your common rooms." McGonagall took a deep breath. "You must have a password, and only the three of us will know it. If you say the password wrong, or just try and open the door, it will lead to a closet. So no one can get in but us, and I will only come in during an emergency."  
  
Hermione ran her fingers over the wooden door; trying not to think of all the things Malfoy could do to her as the year goes by.  
  
"Now, think up a password, quickly. We must get back in time for the feast." McGonagall folded her arms over her chest and prepared herself for a long wait.  
  
"I don't care," Malfoy said, his voice slightly echoing in the corridor. He yawned, looking incredibly bored with the world.  
  
"Well," Hermione clasped her hands behind her back. "It would need to be something out of the ordinary, so how about- " Hermione quickly tried to rack her mind for something that didn't sound too stupid. "Antipathy?"  
  
It was the fist thing that entered her head. At least she was trying.  
  
"Good enough." She took out her wand and tapped the door, murmuring something. "Antipathy!" She said. "Now, lets go and see the rooms, shall we?" The door creaked horribly as McGonagall opened them, revealing a staircase going up quite a ways.  
  
Great, more stairs, Hermione thought madly. This is not my best day, is it? She felt incredibly bitter, having things going almost the opposite of how they were supposed to be going.  
  
There was another door at the top of the stairs, and McGonagall opened it gingerly, swinging it forward into a great room.  
  
The first thing Hermione noticed was the warmth that emanated from the room. She couldn't see a fireplace, so that was a bit odd.  
  
There was a large couch lying in the middle of the room, a few feet from the end wall. And there was a great big window about ten feet above it, stretching to the ceiling.  
  
And the cutest little chairs, one on the left of the couch, and another on the right. The left one had reddish colored print on it, and yellowy-gold woven into it, and the other was greenish with some silvery thread.  
  
Obviously for Slytherin and Gryffindor, Hermione thought. Any idiot could see that.  
  
Malfoy walked over and set some things he had been carrying on the Slytherin chair.  
  
Hermione walked towards the door to the left of the entrance door, that had a gold lion painted onto the door, with a red shield painted behind it. She pushed the door open, and gasped.  
  
It was the most beautiful room she had ever seen.  
  
There was a four-post bed with the head lying against the wall, more towards the middle of the wall and the room. There was a fat, comfy-looking comforter lying on the bed, so long and wide that it fell to the floor, covering the large space that was underneath the bed. And there were two doors on her right wall, and one on the wall behind her, almost opposite of her bed.  
  
She decided that she wanted to save the exploring for later, and went back to the common room where McGonagall stood waiting.  
  
"Lovely, isn't it?" McGonagall said, looking around the room with fondness.  
  
"Yes, I just love it," Hermione looked back to the window, where the moon was just rising into view.  
  
"You know, to put a password on a door, you just repeat the incantation 'Aromohola arbusportal' and then repeat the password," McGonagall turned toward Hermione, reading her feelings correctly.  
  
Hermione suddenly felt better. "What would I need a password for?" She said, feeling the need to cover up her scared feelings.  
  
"Normally there are more things that happen between the two Heads, but this year." McGonagall broke off, eyeing the Slytherin door.  
  
At that second Malfoy popped out, shutting his door behind him, and stood right next to it, narrowing his eyes at Hermione. Hermione noticed a white something sticking out of a pocket of his robe.  
  
"Now," McGonagall clapped her hands together. "We will need to discuss all the things that you two must understand and go through with over this year," McGonagall pushed up the brim of her hat and looked at both Hermione and Malfoy intently.  
  
Hermione held back a yawn. She already knew most of this, whether it was from a supposed-to-be-short pep talk with Percy (Who was eager to explain all the things he had to go through with in his seventh year) or from an old book somewhere, or from McGonagall herself in earlier years.  
  
"Now, you realize that you were put in this high position because of your outstanding efforts in you classrooms, and, er, your obedience," McGonagall faltered slightly, staring at the door behind the two of them, and Hermione wondered whether this was because of Malfoys Malfoy-ness, or because of Hermione's constant rule breaking she did with Harry and Ron under the teachers noses.  
  
McGonagall continued on. "And you can be taken down from this position at anytime so long as I feel that you aren't presenting a positive image for the rest of the school to look up to,"  
  
The speech continued for quite a long time, and Hermione felt her mind wandering.  
  
She thought suddenly of Hagrid, his beaming smile hiding in his black bushy beard, and his glistening black eyes. His classes had gotten progressively better, and Hermione really wanted to get back out there with Harry and Ron and learn more about all the interesting creatures the magical world had to offer.  
  
She knew them all already, but every now and then Hagrid would stumble across a never known fact. That wasn't Hagrid's fault; almost all her classes were like reviews.  
  
Her mind wandered all over her classes, and how much she couldn't wait to get back to them. Learning was so much fun.  
  
The smile that was growing on her face, without her knowledge, suddenly diminished.  
  
There was one class she didn't want to get back to. Potions were so fun to make, and required so much logical thinking, and not just magic by itself. But Snape could ruin everything.  
  
She thought bitterly about going to class, and seeing Snapes face smirk at her, taunting the Gryffindors and taking points off for everything.  
  
Whenever she was bored, she could just occupy her time by thinking of all the ways Snape would make fun of her in the next potions class. Thinking up what he might take points off for the next day. 'You're too loud, Granger. Ten points off.' 'You're too quiet, Granger, you must be up to something. Ten points off.'  
  
Without thinking about it, her face had been formed into a scowl. She quickly straightened her emotions, and automatically put her fingers through her incredibly wavy/curly brown hair.  
  
" . And so, that is why you can not make that kind of mistake in the first place. Now, that is about it, so lets get going down to the feast."  
  
McGonagall turned and opened the door to the stairs, and began walking down them. Malfoy quickly followed her.  
  
Hermione turned to take a last look at the room she was in, to stare at the moon in the window.  
  
A white piece of parchment lay on the ground by the couch. Instinctively, Hermione went and picked it up. The bottom part of the parchment was torn, hastily.  
  
Writing was scrawled very neatly all over the parchment. Hermione began to read it, wondering what it would be about, forgetting about going down for the feast.  
  
'Malfoy- I got the powder made. Just out it on anything, and whoever touches it will turn the age you specified. And, remember the bet. If it doesn't happen, one thousand galleons on my table my next Friday, or you will be in some deep, deep shit. It will work, I have already tried it. So don't brink back any crap about it not working, got it? The powder should be attached to this parchment, in a separate little envelope. Respond to this by Wednesday.'  
  
Hermione scrunched up her nose, wondering what in the hell the letter was talking about. Malfoy made a bet with someone, and it involved powder that was attached to this paper?  
  
She suddenly remembered the white thing sticking out of Malfoys pocket. This must have fallen out, or something. Malfoy wouldn't leave this lying around.  
  
So, whatever it was, he was going to do it tonight! She re-read the letter. The powder turned someone to a certain age, then?  
  
She went over to the stack of things on the green and silver chair that Malfoy had left, lifted a couple of things, then put the letter back.  
  
And then ran out the door, and flew down the steps.  
  
Whatever Malfoy was involved in, it couldn't be good.  
  
Down the corridors she went, looking for a sign of Malfoy and McGonagall. Hopefully they hadn't gotten there with out her.  
  
Wait! He probably won't do it the second he gets in there, though! Hermione slowed down. But then she remembered that she still didn't want to get there late.  
  
She continued running down the halls, until she turned a corner and saw the hair of McGonagall contrasting with the rest of the black castle, and her black robes and hat.  
  
Hermione slowed down. "Oh, Professor," She said as casually as she could, trying to think up a conversation.  
  
"Yes, Miss Granger?" McGonagall turned her head slightly over her shoulder to look at Hermione.  
  
"I was wondering, about the prefects bathroom, what is the password this year?" Hermione smiled to herself. She already knew it, but she couldn't think up anything else to say. Then something dawned on her, and she looked around in all the directions she could. "Where's Malfoy?"  
  
"Oh, he said he was taking a shortcut or something, I don't know. He was a bit behind me, and I figured you would have seen him go."  
  
"Oh, yah, I did," Hermione said quickly. "I just didn't know where. I am afraid I haven't been paying too much attention to anything or anyone since I arrived here," Well, at least that part is true, she thought.  
  
They turned a corner and the Great Hall's doorway came into view, the great doors open and holding tightly to the walls.  
  
From inside there was a wave of clapping. Hermione quickened her pace.  
  
"Hoverry, Jacob!" Someone called. There was a second of silence, then, "Slytherin!" There was another wave of clapping. And a few boo's.  
  
Hermione rushed forward. She would hate herself that year for missing the sorting.  
  
"Well, go sit at your table for now," McGonagall said quietly, making her way towards the staff table, where almost all the staff had been accumulated. Dumbledore stood a few feet away from the stool way out in front of the tables, now with a tattered black hat on it.  
  
Dumbledore called out, "Jacobson, Alisha!"  
  
A little girl ran up to the stool. Almost immediately after placing the hat on his head, it yelled, "Gryffindor!"  
  
Hermione clapped as she made her way to the Gryffindor table, were Ron and Harry were sitting, saving her a spot.  
  
"Hello, Hermione!" Ginny said, her eyes bright and shining. "I knew that you would be head girl, well, everyone knew that, but, I mean - "  
  
"Shut up, Ginny," Ron made a face at his sister and looked over the many people in front of him as Dumbledore called out more names.  
  
"You shut up," She retorted, though no one was listening.  
  
Hermione tried to look over to the Slytherin table, but she was sitting on the wrong side for doing that, so she had to keep turning her whole body around. She didn't want Malfoy to get out of her sight, but it was too late for that.  
  
Harry noticed the worried look on her face, along with her frequent turns in her seat.  
  
"Is everything ok?" He asked as quiet as he could, while a little girl sat on the stool in front of the tables.  
  
Hermione smiled and nodded.  
  
Dumbledore rolled up the piece of parchment he held in front of him, and waved his hand to indicate that McGonagall come over and help him.  
  
Just then, Malfoy came into the Great Hall. No one noticed, basically, except for Hermione, as she was watching the doorway like a hawk.  
  
He walked slowly, watching McGonagall come over and take the stool, hat, and list from Dumbledore, and walk out of the Great Hall. Malfoy took the back way to get to his table, passing the staff table.  
  
Hermione strained her eyes to see what he was doing better. She watched, as Malfoy did nothing special.  
  
Hagrid and most of the other nice teachers were watching Malfoy suspiciously, too. Hermione was glad at that, so that he couldn't do anything stupid.  
  
Malfoy had his hands in his pocket. Hermione couldn't see the white paper pouch thing anymore, she guessed he had hidden it or something.  
  
He scrunched up his nose suddenly, took his hands out of his pocket, and then sneezed.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes. She was being paranoid.  
  
The rest of the teachers looked away at this point. Hermione was just thinking about which teachers were missing, but realized it was just Snape and McGonagall. An empty seat next to Dumbledore, and an empty seat next to Hagrid.  
  
Malfoy sneezed again. This time Hermione looked, and was surprised to see a kind of greenish stuff coming out of his hand.  
  
Hermione stopped breathing. The dust was falling right onto McGonagalls plate.  
  
Malfoy then began walking at a bit more normal pace, faster, if not. Hermione followed him with her eyes, watching him go to the stupid Slytherin table, where Crabbe and Goyle were waiting for him. Hermione scoffed and turned back towards the staff table, where McGonagall was now heading.  
  
Hermione held her breath as McGonagall sat at her seat, where the ominous powder waited, and Hermione wondered what age the powder made you. Would Malfoy have complete control over the persons age, or would the person turn the same age with that powder?  
  
She watched as McGonagall fingered her fork, wondering if she had to touch the powder any special way.  
  
Dumbledore suddenly saw McGonagall sitting down, and beckoned her to the empty chair next to him. Hermione sighed with relief.  
  
McGonagall let go of her fork and got up, smiling and talking about something with Dumbledore.  
  
Hermione swiveled around in her seat, expecting to see Malfoy watching McGonagall like a hawk, but saw him avidly talking with his friends, and some other stupid Slytherins. No doubt about his retarded plan.  
  
She looked back towards the staff table, only to see Snape walking into the Great Hall, making his way towards the only empty seat, the one contaminated with Malfoys green powder, and then sit down.  
  
"You can't possibly not be hungry, Hermione," Harry said, his mouth half full of pork and mashed potatoes.  
  
Hermione looked down at her empty plate, and then at the plates of food in front of her.  
  
She looked back up, and saw Snape take his fork, stab it into some food, and then put it in his mouth.  
  
In the next second, many things happened.  
  
Without realizing what she was doing, Hermione stood up, a little too suddenly. Her chair was knocked over, and the clatter rang through the Great Hall.  
  
Most everyone in the hall became silent, staring at her, most slightly annoyed. And for a brief moment, Hermione caught Snape's eye, and she tried to tell him.  
  
Malfoy finally looked up and saw how wrong things were going, and stood too, ready to spring into action, or into hiding.  
  
Then there was a light green mist, getting darker, coming from the direction of the staff table.  
  
And a blinding light suddenly filled the room, the silent wave coming with it forcing everyone down, flattened on the floor.  
  
After the light disappeared, everything in the hall was quiet for a minute or two.  
  
Hermione groaned, pulling her legs over the seat of her chair that lay on the ground beneath her.  
  
She grabbed onto the now vertical part of wood that was her chair to try and pull herself up.  
  
With a feverish glance around the Great Hall, Hermione realized with a twisted thought that only she and Malfoy were standing.  
  
Malfoy was leaning on the Slytherin table, or what was left of it, eyeing the staff table.  
  
Hermione caught his eye, and she scowled at him. He mouthed the word 'oops'.  
  
She snapped her head back towards the staff table when she heard a great rumbling roar. As a great black poofy thing appeared above the table's edge, her thoughts that this was Hagrid were confirmed.  
  
Hagrid looked over at Hermione, a bewildered look in his eye, then at Malfoy, and turned his head to his side quickly.  
  
By now more and more people were getting up, especially after Hagrid's monster-sounding groans.  
  
Hagrid suddenly yelped out loud, causing even more people to hastily pull themselves up to see.  
  
"Snape!" Hagrid suddenly leapt at the ground, pulling up a lump of black stuff. "Are ya okay?"  
  
Hagrid tried to stand this black lump up, this Snape, but it kept falling. Hagrid tried to push a mess of the long black hair from Snape's face, revealing his white-ish skin.  
  
And, along with everyone else in the Great Hall at that moment that could see, Hermione gasped.  
  
~*~  
  
Ok, more soon! There will be lots of Snapie/Herm romance, but in my own twisted ways. I love putting them together under special circumstances. Review soon, ok? So that I know if you want more or not.


	2. Chapter 2

If You Loved Me 

~*~

By Mae Noelle

~*~

Disclaimer: See what's mine? Can ya? Huh? Well, neither can I. Except maybe a hundredth of the plot – but you never know. Everyone always ends up copying some one else some time or another.

* Just so you know, if you want a big spoiler for the story line, I absolutely, positively, will NOT put in an evil plot twist, where like Voldemort comes and takes Snape away, and stuff like that. I have noticed that a lot of people feel compelled to write one of those nice evil things in, like the great, almighty JKR does, but they usually suck. Or so I think. And mine would suck, so, I will save you the horrible-ness of having to read a badly written evil plot twist that would disrupt this story line. I hope that is all right with you. 

P.S.  – this story is made because of Ducky, my official muse. She writes tons of Sev/Herm ficcies herself, so go to my other half, The Muses, for more great mushy love stories, seductive romances, and whatnot. Now, on with the story.  
  


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Chapter 2

~*~

Hermione clasped her hands over her mouth, a shrill gasp still managing to escape from her lips.

She stared at the black figure Hagrid was trying to help. The glimpses she had caught of Snape seemed… so… different. He didn't look nearly as tall as he was supposed to be, but she was pretty far away. And his face… though she couldn't pinpoint exactly what, there was something different.

Harry rose above the table, his glasses askew, and looked around feverishly. "What happened?"  
  


"Oh, no…" A groan came from the floor somewhere beyond Harry. Hermione took her eyes off Snape a second to look over to where Ron was. "It was probably you-know-who!"

Hermione sighed and turned her head swiftly back toward where the limp Snape was trying to be awoken, and looked over by Hagrid.

  
Her hand suddenly went up to her chest, where she clasped her pin on her robe.  Realizing her Head Girl duties, and wondering what would be expected of her, she gathered her wits and began to walk over all the people sitting on the ground and the broken and battered chairs. 

"Hermione?" Harry called, holding out his hand, gesturing for her to wait. "What are you doing?" He eyed her, looking back over at Hagrid and Snape, where the rest of the professors stood closely.

"Going to see what I can do," She ran up, cursing her bad luck and thinking how this, of course, happened while she was head girl, and turned her head over her shoulder. The Great Hall was a mess. People were loitering everywhere, and a few older students were trying their best to mend things around them.

She looked back around, in time to see Madame Pomfrey coming in, her wand held high. "Move over now, we should get the lad - I mean Professor Snape – to the infirmary,"  
  
Dumbledore held up his hand, wand held tight in it, and shook his head. "No, not at this moment. But, feel free to wake him, Poppy."

Madame Pomfrey rushed over to Snape's side and said 'enneverate' before anyone could raise their wand.

Hermione stopped in her tracks, now a few feet from the main spectacle, and stared avidly at the now-groaning Snape. She leaned slightly forward and peered at his face.

There certainly was something different about him – and now that she was close up she could see it clearly as the sun on a bright, cloudless day.

Probably the main difference she saw in him was that he had to be at least twenty years younger. Her age, or a few years older, she could tell by looking at his softened features. He barely looked like Snape, or the Snape _she_ knew.

He suddenly lifted his hand, making to grab the side of the tipped over table he was laying next to. He ran his other hand through his messy black hair and snapped his eyes open.

He focused his gaze, and let it rest upon Hermione. She stared back, frozen in her standing position outside the circle of Professors who were eagerly watching the young Snapes reactions.

She tried to breath, but it came sort of unnaturally, and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

After a moment Dumbledore coughed, breaking Hermione's trance, and bringing the glances of all of the people in the area upon him. 

Hermione was annoyed by the amused look on his face, and managed to refrain herself from taking a deep breath and furthering the amused look.

Stuffing her fluttering feelings to the back of her head, she managed to take a step forward, and caught the eye of the headmaster.

"Professor Dumbledore?" She took another step closer, bringing herself into the group of people surrounding Snape.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" He pulled a chair up from the floor, took his wand out and muttered the spell to fix the broken leg, and sat down on it.

"I – I was wondering what I could do to help," She twisted her hands together behind her back, and cast another nervous glance at Snape.

Dumbledore followed her gaze to Snape. "Well, at this moment all I think you could do is watch and wait for a situation to arise, and then we will see what you can do. Pull up a chair and watch, for now."

Hermione smiled a small little smile, and, preferring to stand, leaned against the over-turned table.

The young Snape stood wobbly, looking around at the crowd accumulated around him.

"Severus? Are you alright?" McGonagall stood, reaching her hand out to help steady Snape. He cast her an odd look and stepped away.

He looked down at his clothes and looked back up to the crowd of teachers. "What is going on?" He pulled at his large sleeves, pulling the one on his left arm down completely, something that must have been a habit by his age. 

Hermione remembered vividly years ago when she had first seen the dark mark blazing upon his arm…

"Why is the Great Hall such a mess - I didn't have any part in it," He said suddenly, looking around at all the teachers, a slightly frightened look crossing his face. "Honestly-"

"We know that you had no part in this," Hermione looked at Dumbledore as he said this, trying to decipher the expression on his face- but gave up and turned her gaze back on the young Snape.

"Professor," He said, casting a furtive glance at Hermione as he walked closer to Dumbledore. "I – I don't understand – nothing is making sense – what is going on?" A desperate look crossed his face as he stood awaiting an explanation.

"Professor?" 

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and put his hand to his chin, his long fingers delicately combing his white beard. "What is the last thing you remember, Severus?"

Snape opened his mouth, but then immediately closed it. He turned around, facing the Great Hall. 

"Well," He began. "The last thing I clearly remember is being in my Common room, and studying for Ancient Ruins," His expression clouded, and he furrowed his brows. "But everything leading up to this," He shook his head and waved his hand about the Great Hall. "I can not remember. Well, some things are a bit familiar, like a forgotten dream…" He folded his arms, and turned his head back towards Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded his head, his eyes closed.

Hermione's head spun just listening to the information. She could understand what he was saying - but it didn't make sense. How could he remember clearly being in his common room studying - as a student, she presumed - as the last thing that had happened to him? 

Unless it was as though he actually _was seventeen, or what ever age he looked at this moment, again… _

She blinked. Would that mean that he wouldn't remember her? She doubted his memory of her would be enough to jolt his memory.

She looked at Snape from the corner of her eye, studying his face quickly and silently. 

Why did that bother her? She shook her head slightly and looked back over her shoulder to where Harry and Ron where. She smiled at them after seeing Harry looking over, suspiciously glancing at Snape. 

"What am I to do now?" Snapes words brought Hermione back to reality, and she once again shoved her thoughts to the back of her mind.

"Well," Dumbledore stood, looking around the Great Hall. "First we will try and clean this up. And then we shall try and find out the cause of your situation. I do not think it is the work of one of Voldemorts agents, but it is better safe then sorry…" 

With that Dumbledore raised his wand into the air and muttered something that sent all the chairs and chair pieces around him into their right places, along with the table, utensils, plates and food. Hermione watched silently as the mushed food flew into the air, and landed neatly on the platters in the middle of the table. The destroyed food looked absolutely disgusting.

"I think it best for now that you go into your room, Severus, and I will plan what to do with you." Dumbledore began walking towards the teachers.

"Are you referring to the Slytherin rooms?" Snape turned his back to Hermione, stepping towards the retreating Dumbledore.   
  
Dumbledore stopped, and frowned slightly. "You wouldn't remember any of the locks or spells you put on your room, would you?" Dumbledore turned to face Snape. "Well, then, I think you should stay in the Slytherin room, until we can get you into your private sleeping quarters."  Dumbledore turned away.

"My private - " Snape looked incredulously at Dumbledore, who turned to face him again.

"Yes. Right now, you are a professor here at Hogwarts. Potions Master, to be precise. But hold your questions for now, they shall be answered later, at a more appropriate time." He sighed. "Miss Granger, could you please show Severus down to the Slytherin common rooms? The password is 'Dragonswing'," Dumbledore stepped closer to Hermione and behind his hand whispered, "I am sorry. I would have Mister Malfoy do this, but he looks a little preoccupied right now," He winked at Hermione. 

Hermione looked up at him, surprised, and followed his line of vision till she saw Malfoy, laughing with his idiot friends. She sighed, happy that Dumbledore already suspected Malfoy of this whole situation. It saved her a lot of explanation.

"Now, as I doubt that anyone who would do this would do it just so that you could be so young only temporarily," Dumbledore looked at Snape. "I think we shall all treat you as a new student for the time being. As though this whole situation will not get any less confusing. Answers will come in time, but for now, please make sense of your strange situation."

Dumbledore turned around again and walked off, intent on leaving to his preferred destination.

"I know the way down to the Slytherin rooms, I can get there by myself," Snape called out again, though Dumbledore ignored him and kept walking.

Snape, slightly irritated, turned around towards Hermione. Hermione stood, avoiding eye contact with him and looking back over to the Slytherin table, where she saw Malfoy moving his hands around avidly to some other Slytherins, who were laughing. 

Hermione turned around, making her way towards the doorway, beckoning with her hand for Snape to follow.

Suddenly a hand closed on her shoulder, pulling her around. Hermione opened her mouth, expecting the person to be either Harry or Ron, and ran over a long speech about her head girl duties in her mind.

Seeing it was just Professor McGonagall, she closed her mouth and set a smile on her face.

McGonagall shoved a ring of keys in Hermiones face. Hermione focused her gaze on them and, after McGonagall jingled them, grabbed them from her.

"Now, in my room, there is a closet on the right with a box underneath about three or four others. Inside it are some extra robes," McGonagall glanced sideways at Snape, who was standing next to Hermione. "They are pink, but they will do. He should be good enough at Transfiguration to be able to fix them to his liking. There should be other necessities in the box, also, but most everything I can have delivered to the Slytherin dormitories."

She looked closely at Hermione. "I am trusting you to the keys to my room, Miss Granger. I am sure you won't do anything that will make me regret staying here to help and clean up instead of taking him myself." McGonagall looked once more at Snape, a bit suspiciously, smiled at Hermione, and then turned and left. 

Hermione put the keys in her pocket, and again set out to get to McGonagalls office room. 

They walked out into the dimly lit hallway, with only their flickering shadows for company. Hermione sighed slightly and looked down the hall, wanting to be back at the feast, the way it would have been if it weren't for Malfoy.

She looked to her side a bit, looking over Snapes profile. His black hair was much longer then it was just a few hours ago; to the point where he could tie it back easily with a band. He was shorter, too. Hermione looked at the top of his head, which should have been at least where his chin was. She slightly wondered when his growth spurt would take place. His nose still wasn't exactly straight, and his eyebrows where arched in an anxious expression and there were a lot less wrinkles everywhere. Less worry lines, and smile lines - however the hell smile lines would have gotten there in the first place.

Her eyes fell on his, which were as black and ominous as ever, but with a little more light. More of the radiance of youth, she figured. Her eyes lingered on his lips, which were slightly pursed together, matching his frustrated expression. She suddenly had the urge to reach out and touch them, to see if they felt how plump they looked…

Suddenly realizing what she was thinking, she stopped her thoughts, and reminded herself of the picture of Snape as the torturous potions master who never ceased to torment her and her friends.

Resolving to try and drop the scary subject, she looked ahead and focused on the floor of the corridor a few meters ahead of her.

She looked down the hall to her right, not sure if it was the one where McGonagalls personal office was located in or not. She reprimanded herself for not paying attention to where she was going, and walked of to her side slightly, passing behind Snape.

He looked slightly down at her, followed her gaze down the hall, and turned himself to follow her direction.

Hermione walked as directly in front of Snape as she could, to keep herself from looking back at him. 

Snape suddenly said aloud, "Are we close to McGonagalls rooms?" 

Startling her out of her thoughts, Hermione turned around, stopping in front of him. 

"What was that?" She said, looking at him, wondering what could be important enough to talk about right now.

"I asked if we were getting closer to the room where we are supposed to be going," He spoke a bit slower, looking at her with a bored and frustrated expression.

Hermione closed her mouth, which had been slightly open. She could feel her cheeks turning slightly red, and held back a long sigh. Well, this was Snape, all right. He stood there, waiting for an answer, and knowing that he just mocked her, said slowly, "Why, haven't you ever been to Professor McGonagall's room before? Don't you know the way around the school you have been going to for almost your entire life?"

She mentally cursed herself for always getting so easily offended, and tried to breathe out quietly.

Snape looked at her, narrowing his eyes. "For some reason, I never made it the goal of my life to find out and remember where she kept herself,"

"Well, then, we are basically there - it is up the hall," She forced a slight smile onto her features and turned around again, sighing, listening to a little voice in her head laughing at her for thinking that this Snape, though looking nicer, would act any different.

Hermione turned and faced the door on her right, and reached her hand into her pocket, bringing out the ring of keys. She put the first one up to the lock, and put it into the keyhole. She sighed as she tried to turn it, and it wouldn't budge. She tried in the second. Didn't work.

She sighed loudly, trying the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh keys.

Snape moved closer to her, reaching for the keys she held.

"Let me try," He said, grabbing them and moving her over. She glaring at him, moving over to watch.

"It's not going to work," She said, leaning against the wall and watching him try and put each key into the keyhole.   
  


"We are just going to have to go back -" Hermione grabbed the keys from him, and put them in her pocket. She turned around and began to walk, and turned around again, impatient, and watched Snape take his wand out of a really large pocket.

Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes as he raised it.

"Alohomora," He said, tapping the knob.

"Do you really think that is going to work? I am sure that Professor McGonagall is much smarter then-"  
  
Snape turned the door knob, looked haughtily at Hermione, and walked in. 

Hermione stood for a second, her mouth slightly open. She stared at where Snape had been, feeling like a fool, and then remembered her task, and walked hastily into the room.

"The box you need is under a few in her closet," Hermione said, shutting the door behind her and mustering up her dignity. Looking around the room she saw a door on her left, and two on her right. "Which door is it?" she said quietly, mostly to herself.

She walked to the second door on her left, and looked in. It was a lavatory. "Well, not this one," She muttered.

She heard a door open and close behind her. She turned around, and saw Snape leaving one of the doors to go to the one next to it.

"It's this one," He said, grabbing the knob and turning, opening the door in a quick sweep.

Hermione walked across the room, and stood a few feet away from Snape, who was taking the top boxes down from one of the towering stacks. She stood there, debating on whether or not to help and take down boxes, or to let him tackle them himself.

Snape took the last one off, and put it on a stack of two behind him, and knelt down on the floor, scooting the bottom box out of the closet and into an open spot.

He knelt down again, and placed his hands in the cracks of the flaps that were folded over each other. His long hair fell back into his face as he leaned over to examine the contents of the box, and he reached up to tuck it back behind an ear.

Hermione bit her lip. She walked over and knelt down, and put her hand in the box, moving some of the contents around.

"Well, I don't think this is the one," She said slowly, raising a book titled 'Dancing the Wizard Tango' out of the box.

"Brilliant deduction," Snape said sarcastically, grabbing the book from her and placing it back into the box, and refolded the flaps. 

He went back over to the stacks of boxes he made in front of the closet door, and began to open a top one.

Feeling obligated to help; Hermione went over and leaned over a box next to Snape. She poked at the folded flaps, trying to pull them apart, and ripped a corner off one.

She finally tore a whole flap off (she is one of the few who have problems getting into cardboard boxes - intelligent people are often idiots in other ways), and managed to get into the box. Bright pink cloth blinded her from inside the box. She pulled on some of the visible cloth, bringing out an entire robe.

Hermione couldn't help but grin as she held up the robe properly, looking over it.   
  
She barely managed to suppress a roaring laugh when she caught the look Snape gave his new robes. She folded over the robe and placed it back into the box, and waved it over to Snape.

"Well, thank god for transfiguration." Hermione placed her hand over mouth, trying to hold the rising corners of her mouth down.

Snape eyed Hermione's strange reactions. He frowned. "Of course McGonagall would suggest transfiguration…" He pulled all the pink robes out of the box, about five or six of them, and brought them over to the desk. 

  
He hesitated before reaching into his pocket to bring out his wand, and murmured something while tapping his wand on one of the robes.

It turned red. Hermione eyed the robe suspiciously and looked at Snape.

"Our robes-" She caught herself just as she was about to say, ' our robes, as students must be black'. Snape was a professor, after all. If he wanted his robes to be red.... She lifted an eyebrow as Snape turned around and stared at her.

He turned back around tapped his robe again. 

This time it turned green. Well, Hermione thought to herself. At least that color would look better.

"Do you not know how to properly turn it the color you want, or are you just trying out different colors?" Hermione said loudly, sighing and throwing her hands into the air. "Honestly! Hurry up, we don't have all day. I have to get back to see if I can help with anything else." 

Snape whirled around and took a step forward, glaring at Hermione with his wand raised in his hand.

"Do you honestly think that if I could turn it black correctly that I wouldn't?" He yelled, pointing his wand back to the green robe. "I don't _want_ it pink, or green, or any other color," Exasperated, he plopped backwards into a chair.

Hermione raised her eyebrows, and formed her lips into an 'o'. She stifled a laugh, but at the same time felt kind of sorry for this pathetic little Snape. Before, she would really have given anything to see Snape in such a humiliating situation, but now she felt slightly bad for him, and he must be really tired, and confused, and he was in a pretty bad situation. It didn't excuse him for being the horrible dictator he was to the Gryffindors, but, it was still a really pathetic sight.

She sighed, and walked over to McGonagalls desk, which had the green robe laid out on it. Hermione raised her wand and muttered a spell, and instantly turned the robe black.

"There," She said, folding her arms and raising her chin up slightly. "I fixed it - but I still don't think it would be the right size." Hermione grabbed the robe from off the desk, holding it up, and poked at the expanded chest area.

  
He grabbed it from her, and put it back onto the desk. He took his wand and tapped it on the robe. It grew three, four, five sizes, or so…

Hermione raised an eyebrow and observed Snapes fuming profile. He looked positively furious, and gripped his wand so tightly that Hermione figured it would splinter.

"Um, why don't you put it on, and then I will magic it to a perfect size," She suggested hopefully. She wanted it to be out of courtesy, but somewhere she knew that it was just because she wanted to show off some more. 

Hermione watched as Snape slowly turned his head towards her.

"Are you trying to tell me that I can't do it right?" He narrowed his eyes into a venomous glare as he stood there.

Hermione wanted to shout 'Yes!' but restrained herself. There was an awkward silence as Hermione looked around the room, avoiding Snape's glare, wanting to get out this place… and silent laughter bounced around in her head as she thought about Snape, the almighty, Potions Master, fear-me-god-of-black Snape being horrible at simple transfiguration and charms. Well, you lose some, you gain some…

Snape scoffed and picked up the robe, and glided across the floor in his over-sized robe to the bathroom door, opened it, and slamming it behind him.

"So I am guessing I won't help at all, then," Hermione sighed and pulled up a chair in front of McGonagalls desk. Surveying the room, she sighed again and thought about the cleaning that she would have to be doing in a few seconds… she hauled herself off the chair and started to stuff un-opened boxes back into the side closet, along with cloaks, stray shoes, and some other miscellaneous items.

She dropped a box suddenly when she heard a yelp in the other room a few minutes later. Automatically thinking he had hurt himself or gotten into some questionable personal things of McGonagalls, she sighed, wondering why in hell she had let him go run off to that room like a big baby.

Hurriedly she walked to the other side of the room, where the room was located.

She flung open the door and then peered inside, immediately finding herself facing a very irritated Snape.

A dangerous, malevolent, homicidal Snape, was more like it. He was standing in the middle of the room, situated in front of the mirror.

Her gaze automatically lingering downwards, she gasped at the robe he was wearing. He had somehow changed it back to green, or it was a different one, and it was about three feet too short, and ten sizes to tight. Skin-and-bones-hugging tight. Hermione couldn't blink.

Choking back a laugh, she observed Snape's lanky frame.

"Do you _mind_?" He said suddenly, sounding slightly short of breath. He stepped back, bringing his legs together more.

Hermione felt her face redden, and managed to choke out an 'I'm sorry' with a laugh, and took her wand out. She waved it quickly, and the cloth scrunched up against Snape grew and expanded out. He immediately took in a deep breath, bringing a hand to his chest to massage it.

Still feeling a bit humbled, she turned around to walk out of the room, but Snape suddenly said quickly,

"Wait-" She turned around, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Could you - transfigure these, also?" He waved his hand elegantly over the pile of robes next to him, obviously in pain over the humbling request he had to make.

She sighed, walking towards the pile of pink cloth. Picking up the large pile, she went over to the glass and iron bar window, and opened it slowly, trying to ease the creaking sound.

Stuffing one of the robes into the crack of the window, she turned and saw Snapes bewildered expression. "I am throwing these out," She said quickly, going back to the robes she was stuffing out the window.

"I can see that much- but why? Can't you just use a spell to get rid of them?" He furrowed his eyebrows together, and eyed the pink robes falling out onto the Hogwarts grounds.

"Yes, but the spell is very loud, and if I did it inside here we would both go deaf." Hermione put her hand out of the window, aiming her wand at the pile of pink cloth on the grass below the window, and muttered a spell that sent a blue yet of light streaming out. Hermione quickly shut the window, and stood, counting backwards from ten, and at one there was a large shrieking noise.

Hermione looked back out the window. "Gone." She said, and turned back to Snape.

"Take off that robe, and give it to me," She turned again and pointed to the robe he was wearing.

He eyed her, sending out an odd expression, and grabbed the black robe lying on the counter behind him. "Well, turn around-"

Hermione twirled around, and looked out the window, onto the dark, moonlit grounds. She gazed up at the bright, full moon, and realized suddenly, that somewhere out in the world, her old professor Lupin was curled up somewhere as a werewolf.

Something to her right, in the window, caught her eye. It was a reflection - of Snape undressing. He wasn't facing her, so she looked curiously at him, and her eyes lingered on his long black hair that fell across his pale back.

Feeling a blush creeping back up her neck, she quickly shifted a bit, so that he wasn't visible to her anymore.

She coughed. "Are you done yet?" She called over her back.

"Yes -"

Hermione turned back around, and watched as Snape un-tucked his long hair. He grabbed the new robe beside him and flung it at her, and folded his arms.

"How many of these do you think you will need?" She said quietly, putting her hand in the air to grab a fist full of the falling robe. It was very warm. She took out her wand, and held it above the robe.

"Four. That should be good enough." He tilted his chin down and watched her tap his robe with her wand, and said an incantation. 

He must not be used to having people help him with stuff - he _has_ got a big pride issue, Hermione thought, and folded up the robe, and put it on the floor. She put her wand back into the air, and waited for the copied robe to come out. 

She caught the robe that came bursting out of her wand tip, and then held it up. It looked fine, almost exactly like the first. She held up her wand twice more, and watched two more robes fall out of her wand, to make four robes total.

Folding each of them up, and putting them into a stack, she walked over and handed them to Snape. "There," She said quickly, and stuffed her wand back in her pocket.

Hermione reached out to pull back the already open lavatory door, and made her way back out to main office room.

"Well, I think we'll go up to the Slytherin room, for now," Hermione turned back to Snape. "I don't see why I should accompany you there - but, if Dumbledore says to, I guess I will…"

Snape walked quickly to the open closet door in front of him, squished the remaining two boxes that were outside of it in, and then shut the door.

Hermione followed as he walked quickly out the door to McGonagalls office. 

After waiting a few minutes for Snape to come back with a 'thanks' or some other form of gratitude for what she did, she gave up and continued walking down the corridors and stairs, basically following Snape. He knew where he was going, and she basically didn't. She wasn't required to know where the Slytherin common room was in the first place, and she wasn't from Slytherin, so she actually didn't know where it was. 

Hermione began to go over anything she could do to help with the commotion down in the Great Hall, if there was anything left to be helped. Hermione suddenly wondered if Snape would be returning to normal in a few days, or if he would have to be given an antidote to return him to normal. Perhaps he will be nicer for one reason or another, Hermione thought suddenly.

The thought that Snape might never become the 'normal' Snape crept into Hermione's mind, though it sounded odd. Dumbledore, for one, wouldn't let that happen, and, two… two… 

Hermione couldn't really see any advantage to becoming a 38-year-old if you were 18. Besides the fact that he was potions master, and the only qualified one to teach at Hogwarts.

Snape suddenly turned his head around, and caught Hermione's eye.

"By the way, Thank you," His eyes relaxed - though as dark and ominous as ever - and he smiled slightly.

Hermione hesitantly returned the smile, and even though he turned around and continued walking right after he made the slight gesture, she felt the tingling in her stomach long afterwards.

~*~

Wow… over twenty reviews with one chapter! Oh, thank you so much, all you wonderful reviewers out there! Ok, I hope this chapter was good enough for you for now. Thanks again! Man, you have no idea how odd this chapter was for me to write… I re-read it, and when I did, I nearly chocked a hundred times. There are some things that I feel like I would never write that I did, like that part where Hermie was watching that young, hot sevvie undressing…. I take things slow. If any of you have read my story Messing With History, you would understand….

There will be lots of Snapie/Herm romance, but in my own twisted ways. I love putting them together under special circumstances. It is my life's most fun challenge. Do not continue reading if wonderfully written plots and plot twists (provided by Ducky!) disgust you. Or if you like instantaneous, in-bed-the-first-night relationships. Or boring, straight, predictable emotions. People aren't one way or another. People ask you for a pencil, say thanks, then call you a Bitch and shove you into the wall and hate you all in the same minute. It is reality, and that is what my stories portray. Sorry. Review soon, ok? So that I know if you want more or not.

Thanks so much again!


	3. End! Sorry!

Arg! Sorry, but I don't think I will continue this little ficlet.  
  
I began writing this a long time ago, like, before I had written anything else, and now I realize how. cliché. it is. And, re-reading through it, I realize there's a lot of OOC-ness, and plot holes, and it's just corny. It's a lot like all the ficlets out there today. And so I do not wish to continue it.  
  
However, should you like the cliché-ness, please tell me in a review or whatnot, and if enough people want the sex-scandel-ness of it all, then I will be compelled to write more of this virtually plot-less story.  
  
Cheers,  
  
Mae Noelle 


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